Few years back, I was fed up of my current job, then decided to resign, packed bags and moved on for an isolated journey. When the journey started, I had a clear mind and a free heart. A totally different and unknown adventure was waiting for me as I was going outside India for the first time, and that too alone. For the first time ever, I was experiencing the feeling of freedom. It wasn’t exactly happiness, but was a mixture of excitement, happiness, fear, curiosity, adventure and many more emotions mixed evenly. Most probably, everyone who traveled alone also got the same feeling. It's not an easy task to describe in words how I was feeling at that time but it was wonderful.

I'll try my best to describe how I felt during the whole journey.

The best thing I felt that, you do not have to ask anyone's permission, also no have to wait for you while you are doing anything that you love to do along the way. The incidents be like, when you feel like stopping for a cup of coffee or want to explore the local market of your interest, you can just do it without any interference of anyone. When you on a journey with you, you get the freedom to plan YOUR trip according to the way you like it. There is NOOne with you to tell you where to go, and where not to go. You can get away from waking up and rushing out of the door. It's all about you and whatever you want to do.

being independent on a journey, comes with a great opportunity of mixing up with the people in the surroundings you visit. You can easily get to know the hidden travel locations by getting to know the locals. The places that are only known to local people or some really good eating spots that offers really good food at a local price. In my journey, once I met a taxi driver who recommended me to one of the best boat noodle in Bangkok! Literally, it was Yum! I still remember the taste of that boat noodle in my mind. It may be possible that you may not understand their language, but figuring out the whole conversation itself will be another interesting thing, and I am sure you will like that too.

 

Gradually when you travel alone, there will be a time when your conversation disappears and you do not have even a single soul to talk for hours. You found yourself lost in your own thoughts and surprisingly, it will feel soothing to your heart and mind. You would like just thinking all by yourself, wondering about your own life and life of those that surrounds you. It's meditative. You just spend time how your life goes on. I want you to actually imagine what I am saying and you can feel that weird pang in your heart.

Some activities like finding the routes through map navigation, bargaining fare with the taxi driver, searching better rates for your room and asking for directions will be things that you will be doing, by yourself when you travel alone. These may give you opportunity to make you more sensible and confident in your life. Eventually, it gets easier and you will grow more to excel in the world. You will now believe that many things that you first fear for, are much smoother and you experience a different side of yourself. You start having a belief that YOU can do it yourself.

When you move out of your comfort zone to leave behind the beaten track, you always have some really intriguing stories to tell everybody. It may be about spending a night under the stars all by yourself, playing volleyball at the beach with a bunch of foreign nationals or getting lost in a jungle with clue of nowhere, these kind of stories will make your time memorable for a lifetime.

Other plus points that you will get when you travel alone, are that you become more generous, courteous and respectful. You realize that more often than not, a genial smile goes a long way. A simple smile could get you many favors done.